Policies and Guidelines for Colorado Comprehensive Health and Physical Education Standards and Instruction

What are the relevant statutes that guide Comprehensive Health and Physical Education?

CRS 22-25-106 – Comprehensive Health Education Act
This statute recommends quality implementation guidelines for comprehensive health education programs. These recommendations include:

1) reflect the health issues and values of the community
2) establish a comprehensive health education advisory council or in supplementing an accountability committee or other appropriate committee, the board of a school district or board of cooperative services is encouraged to appoint members of the community who represent various points of view within the school district concerning comprehensive health education; however, a majority of the committee shall be comprised of parents of children enrolled in the district. Members may include, but shall not be limited to, parents, a member of the clergy, teachers, school administrators, pupils, health care professionals, members of the business community, law enforcement representatives, senior citizens, and other interested residents of the school district.
3) (a) Promote parental involvement, promote abstinence from high-risk behaviors, foster positive self-concepts, develop decision-making skills, and provide mechanisms for coping with and resisting peer pressure;
(b) Focus on the dynamic relationship among physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being; and
(c) Integrate available community resources into the educational program.

CRS 22-1-110. Effect of use of alcohol and controlled substances to be taught.
This statute requires that students, kindergarten through grade twelve, study the effects of alcohol and controlled substances on the human system should be included in other branches of study and taught thoroughly and comparably to other branches of study.

CRS 22-1-110.5. Education regarding human sexuality.
This statute requires prior written notice to the parents with a detailed, substantive outline of the topics and materials to be presented in the portion of the curriculum that concerns human sexuality. Additionally, the curriculum and instruction on human sexuality must maintain standards that are based on scientific research and:

1. Encourage family involvement and communication;
2. Emphasize abstinence and teach that sexual abstinence is the only certain way and most effective way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and infections, including but not limited to instruction regarding HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, the link between human papillomavirus (HPV) and cancer, and the availability of the HPV vaccine;
3. Help students develops skills for making responsible and healthy choices;
4. Include discussion of how alcohol and drug use impairs responsible and healthy decision-making;
5. Be age-appropriate, culturally sensitive, and medically accurate according to published authorities upon which medical professionals generally rely;
6. Include the health benefits and potential side effects of using contraceptives and barrier methods to prevent pregnancy, including emergency contraception and the availability of contraceptive methods; and
7. Promote any established character education program pursuant to CRS 22-29-103.

CRS 22-7-1005. The State Board of Education is required to adopt standards for physical education.

CRS 22-7-1013. Districts are required to adopt student education standards that meet or exceed all areas that the state has standards.

CRS22-11-503. Districts are required to publicly report on their physical education offerings.

CRS 22-32-136.5. Requires local school boards to adopt physical activity policies at the elementary school level. 
The physical activity policies require a specific number of minutes elementary school children must engage in per month based on the whether the child attends half- or full-day and based on the length of the school week. 

Physical activity is defined as:
(a) exercise programs
(b) fitness breaks
(c) recess
(d) field trips that include physical activity
(e) classroom activities that include physical activity, and (f) physical education classes.